Think of this as a first person situation report, and nothing more

Think of this as a first person situation report, and nothing more

Lessons learned as of 2/21/2015, Saturday

Situation:

1)    The region the Hemlocks is in is suffering through a real ice storm. It is also very windy and gusty.

2)      Public electricity has been out since 0515.

3)      There is still ice and branches from all kinds of trees coming down at a decent rate.

4)      The driveway is effectively blocked by mostly branches and at least two pine trees.

5)      I returned from a survey recently, and big branches are still coming down and that ended my survey.  Most hardwood branches will make good firewood eventually.

6)      The best course of action (C/A)  is to hunker down until the weather gets better. Having a good book to read helps me, too.

7)      The cottages, the barn, and the storage sheds are all OK. I cannot make it out to the Cliff Field Pond shed to see how it faired.

8)      The wind gusts are clearing a lot of snow and ice weight off of the tree branches if they don’t come down as a result anyway, including the windy gusts.

First the good news:

1)       The flash flood warnings don’t apply to the Hemlocks. Most water from melting snow and ice and rain goes downhill.

2)      The outside temp is just above freezing as of 0800.

3)      The downed hardwood branches should provide a week’s worth of wood stove wood. The downed conifer  (pine and hemlock) will just be put in the woods to rot.

4)      The volume of downed trees and branches is such that more sun will hit the ground this warm season, and will result in a thicker understory.

5)      The place still has plenty of food, water, and warm clothing. Neither cottage, the barn, and the storage sheds have suffered damaging hits from large branches or trees.  All the wood stoves work OK.

6)      The yard dogs and yard puppies are doing OK.

7)      The water powered electric plant is keeping the large Maytag refer/freezer and the stand alone freezer working OK. The solar plant is OK, too.

8)      The Hemlocks has one telephone land line that works OK.

Second the bad news:

1)       The weather is adverse to transportation and commerce.

2)       There is still serious tree fall occurring which should diminish throughout the day.

3)      The indoor dog is still acting squirrely and looking to me for protection. Said another way, she is getting to be a pain to me.

4)      Whether I can make my 1030 Monday doctor’s appointment is in doubt right now.

5)      I am reviewing my ratio of books to DVDs, and may get some more entertainment books. I’ll still solicit two books per addressee right now.

6)      If I can’t get more dog food, I can still feed them human food, like canned roast beef hash.

7)      An ice storm to me at the Hemlocks means it is cold raining right now, and was freezing on any branch or line. Then the serious wind gusts would push them around.

8)      I would estimate the storm damage and cleanup would take me 2 or 3 days of work.  And then the extra mowing from the sun on the ground will come.

9)      Having an emergency radio is a good idea.

10)   Two(2) weather radio stations went down for days (+).

11)   No public electricity equals no email or Internet.

Legacy thoughts:

1)      Now would be a good time to read to your kids. I still remember my Grandmother (my father’s mother) reading from the book Robinson Crusoe to the kids every afternoon on the porch at the Hemlocks.